It's probably because everybody assumed it was obvious, which it is. I'm feeling really dumb for not knowing this. Worse, it was easy enough to try, but I never even thought to check.

You remember those little plastic remotes you used to get with your apple computers? The ones that seemed like such a neat idea, but you never really found a reason to use them so they ended up in a drawer somewhere? Well get them out. They work with the AppleTV. Yeah, yeah. I can here the DUHS from here.

Why the thought never crossed my mind that Apple would keep the same protocol I have no idea. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I'd pretty much forgotten about those useless little doodads sitting on the shelf over the kitchen computer. They're still in their original wrappers. At one time I thought I could use one to control a video on the computer while I was cooking, but it’s not like our kitchen is so huge, or my cooking is so time sensitive that I can’t take the two or three steps to the keyboard.

Now we have three backups for when our smooth, rounded, and tapered apple remote (Honestly, Apple, I can’t describe it without thinking I’m writing copy for a tampon commercial) inserts itself into the innermost workings of the fold-out couch. I don't have to try to talk the boy into watching something on the DVR just because I can't face performing a sofa-autopsy just to find the remote.